Dutch livestock sector faces new nitrogen law The Dutch parliament, last month, approved a new law that aims to curb nitrogen emissions in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands Agricultural and Horticultural Association (LTO) - the representative body of 35,000 Dutch agricultural entrepreneurs and employers - commented that, even though the law will be challenging for the Dutch agricultural sector, it was pleased that some of its proposals were eventually incorporated into the new legislation.
“With the absence of concrete compulsory measures for the agricultural sector, however, it is difficult to determine the full effect the nitrogen law might have on the Dutch livestock industry,” reads a GAINS report from the USDA.
Published: 15 January 2021
SOURCE: NL TIMES.
AMSTERDAM: - Today the Council of Ministers will make a final decision on whether or not the entire Rutte III cabinet will step down due to the childcare allowance affair. The Ministers separately met with the leaders of their parties VVD, CDA, D66, and ChristenUnie on Thursday night and will discuss how the coalition feels about the situation in the Council of Ministers on Friday. All signs point to the government stepping down, sources in The Hague said to NOS.
In the childcare allowance affair, hundreds of parents ended up in serious financial problems after the Tax Authority wrongly labeled them fraudsters and ordered them to repay their childcare allowance. In some cases, this involved tens of thousands of euros.
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PigProgress
Sow numbers in the Netherlands drop by 70,000
In the first 10 months of 2020, the number of sows in the Netherlands came down by roughly 70,000 animals. The reason for that is a so-called ‘remediation’ policy, where producers are invited to be bought out, using subsidies.
The reduction, an estimate by at least 2 artificial insemination companies, mostly took place in July and August, when 50,000 sows were taken out of production. Sows were also taken out of production in November. This brings the total to 75,000 less sows than in January, or an 8% reduction compared to the beginning of the year. There will still be roughly 800,000 sows left in a relatively urbanised and densely populated country, the size of Kentucky.